Modern Military Architecture, Confirmed by Various Histories both Ancient and Modern, and Adorned with the Principal Fortifications of All Europe Adduced as Examples

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Original title: Architectura militaris moderna. Varijs Historijs, tam veteribus quam novis confirmata, et praecipuis totius Europae munimentis, ad exemplum adductis exornata An illustrated Latin folio treatise on fortification in the gunpowder age, published at Amsterdam by Louis Elzevier. It defines military architecture as the art of fortifying and holding any place against hostile force, and treats regular and irregular fortification: definitions and axioms, ground plan and elevation, ramparts, ditches, outworks, citadels, the choice of sites, the interior of towns, earthwork labour and its costs. A separately titled part on the attack and defence of places, dedicated to Konrad von Burgsdorff, covers castrametation, circumvallation, approaches, mines and the defence of besieged towns. Throughout, the protection of cities is stated as the supreme law of the art, by which beauty, proportion, cost and the engineer's standing are judged. Technical rules are confirmed by ancient and modern sieges, from Caesar to Breda, Maastricht and Ostend, with the Dutch school of Maurice and Frederick Henry as the model. The work also contains reflections on the devastation of Germany in the Thirty Years' War, on citadels and the relation of rulers to subjects, and on the limits of rule over conscience. The volume includes a dedication to Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, folding engraved figures and plans of fortified places, trilingual glossaries of technical terms, and an alphabetical index. French and German versions followed under the Elzevier imprint in 1648. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

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